


Steve Rogers: Doctor of Nightmares

by stonyunited



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Crushing, First Kiss, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Nightmares, One-Shot, PTSD, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Needs a Hug, mention of Brutasha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 08:58:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10383057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonyunited/pseuds/stonyunited
Summary: Tony suffers from frequent nightmares. Steve finds out and wants to help.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Civil War never happened in this story but Tony and Pepper did end up breaking up! 
> 
> The prompt I was giving was just "Nightmare" so I hope it's okay!

The walls felt like they were closing in. The confined space got tighter and tighter as Tony tried to breath. It felt like water was being poured down his throat without his consent. He was drowning. Tony Stark jolted awake in bed, his bed sheet falling peacefully down onto his lap as he quickly sat up. The brunet’s eyes surveyed the dark bedroom where he rarely slept because of nights like this one. He’d much rather stay in his lab until he could barely keep his eyes opened then just pass out face first on his desk until the sun rise. Nights like those Tony wouldn’t get nightmares. He didn’t want to be remembered of all of his past mistakes and the fear that he felt. The worst part? Tony had these nightmares without anyone to calm him down or reassure him that everything was going to be alright. Nothing was going to be alright. Never again.

Tony tried desperately not to think of anything as he laid back down slowly on his silk sheet, his brown eyes staring up at the ceiling. He tried not to think about Pepper and what she could be doing right now. He tried not to think about how almost everyone on the team had someone special and Tony had no one. Clint had his wife and now three kids, Natasha and Bruce are a thing or whatever the fuck you call what they have. Sam and Rhodey have been hanging out a lot and they’re becoming best friends which Tony thought was great that they’re getting along! 

Last but not least, how could Tony possibly forget about Steve? He has Bucky! However, Bucky's been in SHIELD HQ for safety at the moment so really Steve has...huh...guess they're both lonely little people. It's not like Steve would want to speak to Tony, they haven't been the nicest people on the planet to each other. Constant bickering that drives everybody up the wall. 

"FRIDAY, where is Captain Rogers currently?" Tony asked his AI as he turned his body to comfortably lay on his side. There was a moment of silence before the British robotic voice spoke up. 

"Captain Rogers is currently in the gym at it again with another punching bag. Shall I show you on the video feed?" FRIDAY asked. If Tony didn't know better, it sounded like FRIDAY wanted Tony to say yes to spy on Steve. Tony quickly raised his hand to stop JARVIS from showing him anything.

"No, no, I'm pretty sure that goes against privacy or some shit like that." Tony quickly said before slumping down on his bed. His mind was doing a thousand laps and Tony couldn't find the energy to sleep. Yes, he needed energy to sleep. It can be exhausting! After a dramatic sigh, Tony threw off his covers and decided to trudge out of his bedroom and head down into the kitchen. Maybe he could get a cup of coffee and just start his day of work earlier. Tony navigated his way through the darkened hallways of the tower before he stumbled into the kitchen. The brunet left the light off as he tried to move his hands around the darkened kitchen to try and reach the coffee maker to turn on. Tony didn't even realize that he had a visitor in the kitchen until he heard the fridge door slam shut. Tony jumped at the noise and quickly spun around to see Steve standing there with a water bottle in hand. 

"Jesus Christ. You're going to give me a heart attack. Don't be sneaking up on me." Tony snapped at the super solider before turning back to the coffee maker that was making sizzling noises with boiling coffee. Steve snorted as he threw his head back and took in several sips of his water. The blonde had just shrugged before twisting back on his water bottle cap. 

"What are you doing up to early? It's-" Steve leaned forward to look at the clock that was on the microwave. "Four thirty in the morning?" Tony bit his bottom lip in deep thought. He wasn't to inclined to tell Steve about his routine nightmares that happen so often but yet Steve is great at depicting when people are lying to him. Except when Natasha lies to him because she's a spy and lies for a living, so it's very hard to tell if she's lying to someone or not. 

"I was just getting some coffee. Thought I could tinker with my suits for a bit." Tony decided to tell Steve as he turned back towards the coffee maker, praying that it'll be done brewing soon so he could get out of this situation. Steve narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the back of Tony's head before he swirled the water around his bottle for a split second. 

"Uh huh sure. I'll get back to you when I actually believe that statement." Steve mumbled under his breath before quickly turning around on his heels and walking out of the kitchen. Tony let out a breath of air as he heard the coffee maker beep at him.

He grabbed the nearest coffee mug, a Captain America one, and poured the hot coffee into it. After pouring the necessary cream and sugar into it, Tony made his way down to his lab to start working on anything that'll keep his mind off of his reoccurring nightmares. The rest of the day seemed to go by slowly with Steve coming down to give Tony a sandwich for lunch, Bruce coming in to discuss the latest science phenomenon with Tony, and Steve coming in to sketch while watching Tony work. The genius didn't really mind that Steve did that. Steve barely spoke and when he did, it was to say bless you whenever Tony had sneezed. One of these days, Tony is going to steal Steve's sketch book and find out what the super solider draws on his spare time. Until then, Tony just decided to let Steve draw wherever the attractive blonde wanted too. Wait what? Attractive? Tony quickly shook his head no at the thought of finding his team captain attractive. Who actually finds Steven Grant Rogers attractive?? Certainly not Tony. 

Before Tony knew it, night had fallen and Steve had already left the lab to probably go to sleep himself. The tower was quiet and the only light that was on was the one in Stark's lab. It was getting harder and harder for Tony to keep his eyes opened and soon after that, Tony had his head resting on the work table as he fell fast asleep. Steve came in an hour later to see if Tony was still working and his eyes softened at the sight of Tony sleeping at his desk. Being very careful to not disturb the sleeping superhero, Steve walked closer and picked the brunet up, bridal style. Without being told, the lights to the lab flipped off thanks to FRIDAY and Steve carefully brought Tony up to his bedroom and delicately laid the brunet down onto the silk sheets.

Tony let out the tiniest of groans but still stayed asleep as Steve put the blankets over him. "Good night, Stark." Steve whispered quietly before tip-toeing out of the room, the lights turning off behind him. 

A few hours later went by and Tony was sleeping peacefully. Until his dreamed started to alter and it turned into the huge wormhole like the one in New York. The one that Tony was willing to risk his life and fly into it. To save his whole team and all of New York. To save Steve. Tony was clutching at his pillow and his face was scrunched up as his dream started taking an unexpected turn and it showed his vision of the whole team dead at his feet. Tony started to twitch and toss and turn in his sleep while his heart rate started to pick up. FRIDAY noticed the increase of heart rate and decided to alert Steve this time. 

"Captain Rogers, it seems Mr. Stark is need of some help from you." FRIDAY had said in Steve's room. The blonde quickly sat up in bed and looked up at the ceiling where FRIDAY's voice came out of. "Did he ask for me personally?" Steve asked but there was no response from Stark's AI. Steve frowned deeply before sliding off the bed and headed down to Tony's bedroom to find the brunet whimpering and twitching in his sleep. Nightmare. Steve had his fare share of nightmares. "Hey, hey Tony?" Steve asked carefully as he advanced on the bed and grasped on to Tony's shoulder to give him a gentle but firm shake. Tony's eyes quickly opened to reveal his brown orbs that looked in shock and fright as he quickly sat up in his bed. Sweat was pooling down the side of his face as he frantically looked around the room until he saw Steve who was sitting down at the edge of the bed looking concerned. "Are you alright?" Steve whispered out quietly, reaching a hand out to comfort the brunet but decided to pull his hand back at the last minute. "I'm-I'm sorry. Why are you here?" Tony asked, completely ignoring Steve's question as to knowing if Tony was alright. Steve frowned like he didn't really understand what Tony was asking. "What do you mean why am I hear? FRIDAY told me that you needed my help? And you clearly did because of-" "I don't need any help!" Tony interrupted with a snap in his tone of voice.

Steve looked taken back by the sudden change of tone but stood his ground. 

"Tony, nightmares are a normal thing in people. I've had my fare share of those! I can help if you'd just let me." Steve whispered, letting out a sigh when he said the last part. Tony glared darkly at Steve before crossing his arms over his chest, not seeming satisfied with what Steve was saying. "You don't have to go through this alone. If I would have known that you were having nightmares, I could have helped earlier." Steve said, his eyes softened. Tony avoided Rogers eye contact because if Tony saw Steve's soft and caring eyes, the brunet wouldn't stand a chance.

"I don't...need help." 

"Want to talk about it?" Steve asked instead as he offered Tony a warm smile. Tony bit at the inside of his cheek to keep from saying something incredibly stupid. If Steve knew about the dreams that mostly involved Steve dying because of something Tony did, his secret crush on Captain America might be revealed. 

"It's just your typical nightmare, I guess. Nothing to big or extravagant." Tony said with a nonchalantly shrug of the shoulders. Steve quickly shook his head in disagreement at that statement. 

"No. Every person's nightmares aren't the same. A nightmare is still a nightmare, no matter how big it is. Whatever you're dreaming about is obviously bothering you so I'm always here if you want to talk about it." Steve said. He gave Tony one last comforting and warm smile before pulling himself off the bed and leaving Tony to contemplate what was being said. 

A few weeks had passed as Tony still had Steve's offer in the back of his mind. He slept more and more in his lab to try to fend off the nightmares and it worked at times until Fury started forcing Tony to sleep in his own bed because Tony, only getting a few hours sleep leaning against a desk, wasn't healthy enough apparently. Tony awoke from yet another bad dream late at night and couldn't seem to fall back asleep. FRIDAY had informed Tony that Steve was currently in the lounge watching some episode of Sherlock so Tony decided to just join his captain. Not because he wanted Steve's company! Just because he likes Sherlock...defiantly not because he wanted to hang out with Steve. Tony inched out into the lounge where he indeed found Steve curled up on the couch with a blanket around his body, a popcorn bowl in his lap, and Sherlock on the big TV screen. Tony cracked a smile at how domestic and adorable Steve was being and almost decided to just stand there watching him but decided against it because it could come off as creepy. 

"Hey...mind if I join?" Tony asked quietly as he inched closer to the sofa where Steve was sitting. The blonde's head perked up at the sound of Tony's voice and it looked like his smile couldn't get any bigger.

"Sure! Yeah of course. Sit." Steve invited as he moved his legs from the other spot to allow a spot for Tony to sit down.

Tony quickly took the invitation and sat down next to Steve. The super solider couldn't stop smiling as he kept making glances over to Tony who had his attention on the TV. The silence was almost unbearable to Steve until it was broken by Tony clearing his throat.

"It was about New York. The black hole." Tony spoke up. Steve quickly looked over at him with a confused expression on his face. "My dreams that I have. I fly up into the black hole and I feel suffocated. Then I'm back in that cave those years ago being drowned. Then finally I see my teammates dead at my feet. YOU were dead because I couldn't save you." Tony explained, his eyes firmly on the popcorn bowl on Steve's lap. Steve stared blankly at Tony before looking down at the popcorn bowl as well. 

"Oh." Was all the super solider had said. He was at a loss of words. "I'm really sorry." Steve whispered which made Tony quickly shake his head no.

"I don't want your sympathy. I didn't tell you so that you could feel sorry for me." Tony said firmly before finally making eye contact with Steve the first time that night.

"Then why did you tell me?" Steve asked quietly even though he already knew the answer to it. Tony stared at Steve, not knowing what to say anymore. Maybe Steve didn't understand why Tony was telling him this. Maybe Steve didn't know how much Tony trusts him with this. Maybe Steve doesn't know-Tony's thoughts came to a halt as he felt soft lips against his. Tony stayed frozen in place as Steve kissed him. After a second went by, Steve slowly pulled away with his cheeks a dark shade of red. Maybe Tony didn't react the way that Steve thought he would because then Steve's eyes screamed regret. 

"I-I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me." Steve stuttered as he quickly stood up, having the popcorn fall off his lap and to the floor. "I should go." Steve whispered before quickly turning around and headed towards the door. He was so stupid in thinking Tony actually liked him back. All this time that Steve liked Tony, Tony only thought Steve as a friend or teammate. 

"Steve Wait!" Tony called out once he was able to stop being in shock. The brunet jumped off the couch and ran after Steve and finally caught up with him in the tower hallway. Steve stopped and turn towards him, his cheeks still the same color of red. "Um, maybe we could go out? Sometime? To dinner? Sometime?" Tony stuttered out as Steve's lips twitched into his usual warm smile. 

"I'd like that." Steve whispered, not being able to stop smiling. He was smiling so much that his cheeks started to hurt. 

"Good, great! I'll be looking forward to it." Tony said, matching Steve's smile. Steve nodded in confirmation before leaning forward to kiss Tony on the cheek then quickly headed back to his bedroom. Tony watched him leave and walked to his own bedroom, his smile never leaving his face. Steve likes Tony. Steve cares about Tony when Tony thought nobody did. Steve maybe, someday, will even love Tony. That was the first time in a long while that Tony didn't have a nightmare. Instead, he fell asleep thinking about Steve and his dreams were filled with him and Steve going on picnics and amusement parks and movie night cuddled up on the couch. Steve Rogers really was a doctor of curing nightmares.

**Author's Note:**

> I know it was cliche, and a bad ending, and not a really good story but I like it and I hope that you kind of like it! Light criticism is accepted :) I really hope to get better at writing so please let me know your thoughts!!


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